The Project
by Asa Nakamura
Summary: Levy McGarden attends Fairy Tail University, a eccentric school that only accepts scholarship students with unique talents. Since Levy's talent happens to be her intelligence, she is failing her shop class. However, when the notorious Gajeel Redfox asks her to be his partner, she is less then thrilled. But her hand is forced, so she agrees for the sake of her grades. Lemon, AU


**Whale then.**

**I'm supposed to be working on Heart's Plague, (a Soul Eater fanfiction that's a sequel to one of my earlier and much more immature works) but I don't feel like doing melodrama right now. Plus I had the sudden inspiration for this story, so I just started writing. This was originally a real-life fanfiction, with real people I know (Not saying who), but I realized how this could easily be translated into the any fanfic universe. So.. yeah. Um. I want to try something a little different than normal, so basically that's why this is a Fairy Tail fic instead of my usual Soul Eater ones. There will also be much longer, more mature chapters, with tons of smut, and some adult concepts the pretty much relate to my current life. That reminds me, DON'T READ THIS IF YOU'RE INNOCENT LIKE I USED TO BE. Oh, and I don't own Fairy Tail. If I did, it would be on a porn website. ._. **

Chapter 01

(Levy's POV)

I walk into my class, my hair slightly rumpled from gym and my pencil case clutched to my chest. I move to sit down next to my last partner, Elfman, when I remember that we are getting new partners today.

So, I sit down instead next to Juvia, hoping she would accept my offer to be partners.

"Um…" She replied, with her slight (but cute) stutter, "Sorry, but Juvia already agreed to be Cana's partner."

I look over to the bitch in question, and see that she is busy talking to Laxus, my ex. It looks to me that she likes him, it's pretty obvious… She's constantly flirting with him, even when Laxus and I were dating. Jeez, I can't believe I'm still jealous when girls flirt with him. He was kind of a douche, but only in front of Gajeel, Natsu, and Gray, all who are also in my class.

I'm brought back from my thoughts when Juvia clears her throat. 'But… Maybe next time?" She smiles at me tentatively, and I smile at her and nod. "Sure."

Just then, our teacher walks out of the back room and turns on the document camera. The room immediately quiets down, as we're interested in what the next task is.

To everyone's (including our teacher's) disgust, he opens a link to a power point and begins to drone on about free-builds, which is basically where we design and build something made from objects we have to acquire on our own. I sit back in my chair until he gets to the interesting part; the actual task.

"Your job is to create a working prototype of a machine that will serve a drink by pouring 3 ounces of water into a cup, then putting a lid on the same cup and adding a straw."

An idea immediately pops into my mind, one combining an assembly line we already had to do and a windmill that will easily power the machine. However, if there is a size limit, I'm screwed.

Gray raises his hand and asks my question exactly, "How big can it be?" If he weren't such an obnoxious idiot who strips like a male slut, I'd be totally interested in him. He's fairly tall and well muscled, with jet black hair and blue eyes. A face you could fall in love with, until he opens his mouth.

The teacher answers the question with a smile, "As big as you want, as long as you'll be able to get it to the classroom when it's due in a month. Whispers immediately start around the room, and I frown in confusion. We've only ever done builds in the classroom, why would we need to build it outside of class?

Gray again asks the question on everyone's mind, and our teacher clears his throat with a slightly frown. "Recently, the principal has hired a new teacher, who believes resources should not be spent on our class. The principal has agreed to his demands, and has decided to spend the money on the Student Government."

The bedraggled teacher makes a placating gesture as several students begin to make dissatisfied remarks. "However, the principal has agreed to finish this year's class as a Tech Ed class. We no longer have the normal equipment, but we are able to continue learning."

The grumbles quiet down. "But… We have to do the project at home?" I ask quietly into the sudden silence.

He nods. "You and your partner will take your notebooks to and from school, and choose one of your houses to work at. You will be able to consult me during our normal class time using your notebooks. I have a rubric on the wiki, along with my email. Now, go find a partner and get started."

Everyone immediately gets up from their seats and goes to look for a new partner, as we can't have the same partner twice. My best friend, Lucy, has already teamed up with Elfman. I've already been both of their partners, so I don't mind.

Juvia has been asked by Gray to be his partner, and she glances over at me helplessly. I nod and smile at her, knowing she's liked him for awhile. She smiles at me and turns to talk to Gray.

Lissana has paired up with Mirajane, who are sisters and who I happen to be friends with, and I've already been their partners. Cana, the only other girl in our class, who I would pick over any of the boys (Even though she's a bitch) has dumped poor Juvia for Laxus, making her even more of a bitch.

I sigh and look around the room; it seems everyone has a partner but me. Jeez, I sure am feeling the love today. Most of the guys have decided to work together, ignoring me completely as per usual. I note the absence of a distinctly male presence, Gajeel. Curious as to where he could be, I cautiously look around the room, just as I hear someone clear their throat behind me, and tap on my shoulder.

I whirl around and look up at the presence towering above me. "Hey, Levy." He says in his deeper than it should be voice. "You're my partner now."

Aw, _shit._

It's Gajeel Redfox, complete with his hugely muscular build, obsidian eyes that must be due to contacts, and multiple piercings decorating his body.

"B-but, I never agreed to be your partner!" I squeak, and he shrugs.

"We've got no choice," I resist the urge to correct him on his grammar. "Everyone else has a partner."

I sigh and lean against the desk behind me, backing away from his slightly menacing presence. "…Fine, but you have to do some work, too!" I know he's a total freeloader, and I don't want to have all the stress dumped on me.

"Alright," he nods. "We can keep the project at my place then." My eyes widen. I've heard rumors about how he's a total horn dog and has commented on girls' breasts before.

"Um, actually, never mind. Leave everything to me, I can handle it." I pull my shirt up, aware of his gaze drifting slightly downward to my A-cup chest. I have completely non average breasts for my grade, and I'm usually nonchalant about them, but I feel almost exposed in this case.

He smirks slightly "Nah, I'm actually interested in this project." He leaves then to get our notebooks, and I immediately run over to Lucy and start shaking her like a crazy person, dragging her away from Elfman.

"Holy shit, holy fuck, mother of—" I hiss, and she puts a hand up to my mouth.

"Shh, I saw Gajeel talking to you, what happened?!"

"Holy mother of FUCK!" I finish, and take a deep breath. I glance over at Gajeel, who is waiting to get to the bookshelf where the notebooks are kept. I start explaining everything to her in quick, urgent whispers.

"Gajeel asked me to be his partner; everyone else had a partner already so I had to say yes. He says that we'll work on the project at his house. HELP. ME. I don't want to be raped!"

Lucy only wiggles her eyebrows at me. "Please, you know you want to."

I blush slightly. Despite all the dirty jokes I make around her, I'm still slightly innocent. "I'm not joking! Gajeel is _scary_, he could easily overpower me if we were left alone!" I gulp and blush more "P-please!"

Lucy's smile fades, "Look, if he does anything to you, tell me. But there's not much more we can do, and you might be overreacting. Just… Keep your distance from him, alright?" She smiles comfortingly at me "And he's not as bad as the rumors say, give him a chance."

I sigh. "Kay… Thanks Lucy." I reluctantly turn back to Gajeel, who's sitting at an empty table looking through my notebook, at the old designs. I sit down in the empty seat to the left of him. "S-so…." I don't look up at him; instead I stare down at the table, twisting my hands in my lap.

He slides my notebook in front of me and points to an old assembly line design. "This could work, if we combined it with this." He points to an open page in his notebook, showing a design for a car he had worked on.

I shrug, "But then wouldn't the entire thing be much too big? We should stick to a conveyor belt." I look up at him to see him frowning and looking down at my design, his chin resting in his hand.

He begins to argue for his car idea, saying we could miniaturize it. Surprised by his ingenuity, I become lost in the debate and start drawing designs in my notebook, explaining different ideas to him, as he does the same with me.

I look up, startled, when our teacher gives us the 5 minute warning. Gajeel leans back in his seat and snaps both of our notebooks closed. "That's all the work I want to do for today." He rumbles. "Let me get your number so we can set up a time to work on the project."

I nod and hesitantly scribble down my number on a piece of paper. "Here," I slide the scrap of paper over to him. "This is my house phone, you can call tonight. Just… don't expect me to answer, one of my family members probably will."

"Why?" He frowns.

"I.. um…" I blush and look away. "I just don't like to talk on the phone, kay?" I mumble.

He laughs at me. "What are you, scared?"

"Yes." I glare at him, just as the bell rings. I quickly grab my notebook from the desk and speed walk out of the room.

I reach my locker and move to put my notebook in my bag when I realize I forgot my pencil case. "Shit," I mutter under my breath, and turn to walk back to the classroom, right into the chest of the guy I do not want to see. I get a small whiff of his body spray as I look up at Gajeel, the monster of a guy who's actually only a few days older than me. Steroids, definitely steroids.

"Um, sorry..." I try to squeeze past him into the crowded hallway, but he grabs my shoulder.

"Hey, you! Smurf! Wait, you forgot this." He mutters and holds out my pencil case with his free hand, the other still gripping my shoulder.

I roll my eyes at his stupid reference to my hair. "Thanks…" I cautiously take it from him as he releases my shoulder from the cage of his large hands. I turn back to my locker, just as I hear shouting from the lockers opposite mine. I glance over my shoulder to glimpse a boy being pushed towards me by another boy. However, before I'm knocked down by the guy's body, Gajeel steps in front of me, pushing me back against the lockers.

My mind only has time to realize that it's another of those fights the ghetto kids often have (no offense, but it's true) before I blush bright red at the feel of Gajeel's body pressing against mine, with my back turned to him and he facing me. It's an incredibly intimate position that I'm not too fond of.

"Sorry," he mutters into my hair, and I can feel his breath ghost across the back of my neck. To my horror, my body shudders all on its own as I inhale the slight musk coming off of him.

"A-ah, um, it's o-okay—I mean, w-well, uh.." I try to come up with a reasonable response, but my mind can't seem to form the words. I gulp audibly and try to press myself closer to the lockers to try and get away from him.

The cool metal against my cheek automatically calms my hot and bothered nerves, giving me space to breathe and time to think. This is Gajeel, Gajeel is big, but not necessarily hot. Sure, he has a deep voice that's practically orgasmic, eyes that smolder a bit when he looks at you, and awesome guitar skills, but he's still Gajeel. So why am I feeling this way?

I barely noticed him except to get out of his way in the hallway before, and as a bit of a jerk and one of Laxus's friends. Well, to be honest, I _do _tend to like tall guys. I'm only 5'0", while Laxus is 6'7", Gray is 5'9", and Gajeel is 6'6"… And he's also a guy that happens to be protecting me from a fight that, according to the yells behind me, has just gotten much nastier. Yeah, that must be it. It's just a natural response to his protectiveness, if you could even call it that.

He just so happens to also behind pressing up against me, his body pinning me to my locker, his arms braced on either side of my flustered body, his head resting on mine, his muscular chest lightly cradling the back of my head, his sexy abs pressing against the small of my back, his crotch rubbing up against my—fuck. No, no, no, shut up. Don't think that. No. This is Gajeel, he's a perverted, pedophilic, jerk. Don't think that.

To my utter relief, a few nearby teachers soon start to try and pull the boys apart, who are now wrestling on the floor. Gajeel pulls away from me, and I blush more as I try to hide my face as I gather up my books for the next class.

I straighten up to see Gajeel still in front of me, carefully watching the fight that is still going on. I close my locker and he turns to me, alerted by the sound.

"Hey, what do you have next class?" He asks suddenly, looking slightly uncomfortable.

I flinch at his words, trying to ignore the fact that he hasn't even noticed we're in the same class. "Um, Calculus 2, w-why..?" I start to blush again and look down at the dusty tiled floor between my feet.

I hear him sigh above me and watch as his feet move slightly as his weight shifts to his left side. "The fight could get nasty, more people will join in. I'll walk you to the room. Let's go."

Before I could protest, he grabs my arm and starts roughly leading me down the hallway, the sounds of the fight echoing behind us. I quicken my pace, almost jogging behind him, as his strides are much longer than mine.

I try to control my blush, now acutely aware of his hand on my arm, as well as the stares we are getting from other students who have showed up to watch the fight.

Much to my relief, we soon reach the classroom, and he lets go of my arm. "Here ya go." He walks away to his seat as I open the classroom door, calling loudly over his shoulder, "I'll call you tonight!"

Much to my horror, class has already started, and everyone hears his words. My eyes widen as

I rush to my seat.

"So…" My teacher says loudly into the awkward silence. "If you're done setting up your date plans, Levy, class can get started." A few kids laugh, and I blush.

"No way! It's not like that. This is for a class, he's my partner!" I say loudly, looking desperately around the room.

"She's right." Lissana chirps from the seat next to me, and I smile at her in relief. "We have to work at home on this next project."

"Plus," Lucy calls out from the other side of Lissana. "It's _Gajeel._" Everyone laughs, including Gajeel. Our teacher begins explaining the lesson, and I sigh in relief now that the attention has been diverted away from me.

Throughout the long and boring lecture, I'm distracted by questions that keep popping into my brain, such as;

The fuck just happened?

The fuck is Gajeel thinking?

The fuck am _I_ thinking?

The fuck is that?

Our teacher finishes writing a long and complicated formula on the board that I do not understand. I quickly memorize it and make a mental note to borrow the notes from Lucy.

With the immediate problem solve, I return to my musings, thinking of the much more pressing, long-term matter: Gajeel.

Gajeel is just—ew. He looks like a pedophile, for god's sake! Why do I keep remembering his body pressed against mine, his breathing in my ear his—

Ew, ew, ew, ew! Why am I thinking these things?! First of all, he's creepy. Second of all, he's a douchebag, third of all, he's my ex's friend! I'm not supposed to like him.

Right?

At the end of class, the announcements come on. Thankfully, this is the last class of the day, so soon I'll be able to go home.

"Good afternoon, Fairy Tail! This is Pricipal Makarov Dreyar speaking, with a few afternoon announcements!" The cheery voice the principal has mastered to mask his disgust for everyone crackles onto the loudspeaker above my head. No one looks up, but everyone stops in their work to listen.

"The following after school activities are being held today;" As he drones on, I try to keep my mind from going back to the incident in the hallway, trying to pay as much attention to the principal as I can.

My friend comes onto the speaker, slightly put of breath, to talk about a book swap being held. We all laugh when his voice cracks; after all, he's the class clown.

The principal comes on again with one final announcement. "On February 14, Fairy Tail University will be hosting a Valentine's day dance! Please join us in the gym after school in one month to celebrate and have a good time! All proceeds will go to the school. Couples, this dance is for you!"

I groan inwardly at the stupid announcement. School dances are always the worst, full of awkward twerking and couples making out. For some reason, I always get my hopes up that someone will ask me, and so far it has never happened. Ever.

My friends and I all make jokes about going with each other, but I know that Lucy, Erza, and Juvia are too cool for that type of thing. Plus, I don't think they're bisexual like I am… At least, Erza and Juvia aren't. And Lucy's interested in Erza, not me. Talk about a love triangle guys would drool over.

The bell rings, and everyone heads for the door, the sound of scraping chairs and students chattering distracting me. I gather up my books and follow the stream of my classmates out, joining seamlessly into the flood of students headed down the hallway.

Several people bump into me, and I cringe at their proximity. I hate it when 'strangers' look at me, much less touch me. It gives them more to judge me with. Not a single one of them glances my way, but I still breathe a sigh of relief when I reach my locker, relatively unscathed.

I dump my books into my backpack and swing it onto my shoulder as my stomach growls. Jeez, I can't believe I still haven't gotten used to skipping lunch. Good thing I hate eating more than I hate embarrassing stomach noises.

I grab my coat from my locker and slam the door shut, not bothering to lock it. I walk down the hallway, half-smiling at an overheard conversation. I'm totally carefree, until I see Gajeel and his buddies, including Laxus, standing in a group in the middle of the hall.

I try to skirt around them, but no such luck. "Hey, Pipsqueak!" I hear Gajeel's deep voice calling after me. With a sigh, I stop and turn around to see him walking towards me, his group following behind him.

"Yes? I look up at the as Gajeel stops in front of me, his friends grouping around us. My face flushes slightly as a waft of his delicious sent is carried towards me.

"How about Saturday?" he asks, looking down at me.

"For what?" I raise an eyebrow as I thankfully control my blush.

"The project, of course."

"B-but that's tomorrow!" I protest.

"Exactly. I want to get this done ASAP." He reaches into his pocket and holds out a scrap of paper to me. "Here's my address, be there tomorrow at noon." I take the paper from him, and before I know it, the group of students leaves me standing in the hallway, their raucous shouts echoing in the nearly empty corridor.

I look down at the paper in my hand, scribbled with an address that I recognize is from the upper west side. Great, another rich kid. I sigh, then freeze as I remember something.

"Shit!" I hiss, and run to catch the bus back to my apartment.

**Huh. 4,000 words. That's a record for me. But that's the goal, right? I'll be updating as soon as I get to a library or something (we can't afford internet at my house). Since I have so much free time, I'll write a few new chapters every week and update one or two every weekend, depending on if I'm in a generous mood.**

**So, add to alerts and review, cuz I love me some reviews. Flame me, do what you want, because I love reviews. Also, more lemon in the future. Huehuehuehuehuehuehue.**


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